Method and apparatus for monitoring and ensuring product quality

Claim 1

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution in segments of the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality.

Claim 2

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution in segments of the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality.

Claim 11

An apparatus for monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising a test unit for generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, a signal processor for digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution in segments of the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality.

Claim 12

An apparatus for monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising a test unit for generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, a signal processor for digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution in segments of the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality.

Claim 15

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and comparing the derived statistically relevant feature with an ideal value thereof.

Claim 16

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and comparing the derived statistically relevant feature with an ideal value thereof.

Claim 18

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and logarithmizing the amplitude of the frequency distribution prior to the integrating step.

Claim 19

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and logarithmizing the amplitude of the frequency distribution prior to the integrating step.

Claim 21

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and temporarily storing the values of the test signal.

Claim 22

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and temporarily storing the values of the test signal.

Claim 23

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and wherein the step of generating a continuous test signal includes generating a plurality of such test signals representing respective quality parameters of the product, with each of the test signals being subjected to the digitizing, determining, and integrating steps.

Claim 24

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and wherein the step of generating a continuous test signal includes generating a plurality of such test signals representing respective quality parameters of the product, with each of the test signals being subjected to the digitizing, determining, and integrating steps.

Claim 25

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and determining the mean value and standard deviation of the derived statistically relevant feature.

Claim 26

A method of monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising the steps of generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal, which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, and determining the mean value and standard deviation of the derived statistically relevant feature.

Claim 27

An apparatus for monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising a test unit for generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, a signal processor for digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, said signal processor including an analog-digital converter, a multiplexer, a logarithmizing circuit, an evaluation device, and a display device for the derived statistically relevant feature.

Claim 28

An apparatus for monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising a test unit for generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, a signal processor for digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, said signal processor including an analog-digital converter, a multiplexer, a logarithmizing circuit, an evaluation device, and a display device for the derived statistically relevant feature.

Claim 29

An apparatus for monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising a test unit for generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, a signal processor for digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, said signal processor including at least two memory units for storing the test signal and the amplitude of the frequency distribution.

Claim 30

An apparatus for monitoring the product quality of a continuously produced product and comprising a test unit for generating a continuous test signal which is representative of a quality parameter of the product, a signal processor for digitizing the test signal, determining a frequency distribution from the digitized test signal which indicates how often a specific value of the test signal occurs, and integrating the frequency distribution to derive a statistically relevant feature which describes the product quality, said signal processor including at least two memory units for storing the test signal and the amplitude of the frequency distribution.